Meditation on Emptiness in the Context of Tantric Buddhism

Introduction

The topic of emptiness, so widely discussed in the context of Buddhist philosophical schools, has been largely neglected in the field of tantric Buddhism. This paper will address several interwoven issues pertaining to the tantric meditation on emptiness: the differences between Madhyamaka and Tantra, sectarian variances, debates among certain Tibetan schools, and the evolution of their ideas on this topic.

The majority of Tibetan schools agree that for attaining enlightenment, the ultimate goal of tantric Buddhism, enlightenment itself has to be taken as the path. In other words, meditators realize the goal of enlightenment in their practice by visualizing their environment as the celestial mansion of the mandala and themselves as buddhas seated within. While other Buddhist meditations do make use of visualization techniques, the creation stage, the first stage of tantric practice, specifically requires self-visualization as a buddha.¹

The visualization technique per se is not regarded as enabling the yogi to reach enlightenment, nor does it aim at replacing personal reality with yet another mistaken reality. The effectiveness of the creation stage is attributed to a combination of tantric methods with an essential element of non-tantric Mahāyāna Buddhism—meditation on emptiness. Only after meditators on the creation stage have dissolved their ordinary identities and attitudes into emptiness can they begin to visualize the mandala and its awakened indwellers as empty of inherent nature, and to meditate on the indivisible union of bliss and emptiness. This first meditation on emptiness in the course of the creation stage will be the focus of this paper.

While all schools of Tibetan Buddhism agree that meditation on emptiness is indispensable in the initial phase of creation stage, they differ in their understanding of its true role and nature. The majority of Tibetan writers hold that the Tantra or Mantra Vehicle appertains to the Mahāyāna Path, and the emptiness meditated on during the creation stage is identical to that of the Madhyamaka school.² Nevertheless, they agree that there are subtle differences between the tantric meditation on emptiness and the meditation on emptiness of the Perfection Vehicle³ and engage in much debate about the extent of these differences.

The creation stage meditation on emptiness is a liminal phase wherein meditators “visualize away” (mi dmigs pa) ordinary reality before mentally creating their new state as deities at the center of a mandala. In a type of ritual death, ordinary outlook is obliterated, the impure world is shed, allowing a pure enlightened reality to emerge. Thus, while meditating on sheer nothingness seems appropriate in terms of the tantric practice, this is not so from a Madhyamaka perspective. It is the seeming incongruity between these two systems that gave rise to the many disputes we shall encounter in this paper.

The Disputes

Let us first turn to Go rams pa Bsod nams seng ge (1429–1489), well known for his philosophical writings on emptiness in which he states his objections to other positions. The paragraph that follows comes from a work dealing with the creation stage of the Guhyasamāja in the context of the meditation on emptiness. Go rams pa speaks of two groups of Tibetan scholars whom he designates respectively as “some Tibetans” (bod kha cig) and “early Tibetans” (bod snga ma dag). Because Tibetans normally refrain from naming those they wish to criticize directly, it will be one of our principal tasks here to identify the anonymous persons under attack.

The question that concerns Go rams pa is, what, if anything, remains after ordinary appearances are dissolved into emptiness? In other words, do any of the ordinary appearances that have been eliminated during the meditation on emptiness reemerge later on? The first group Go rams pa takes to task are “some Tibetans” (bod kha cig) who according to him fail to dissolve all phenomena into emptiness before creating the pure world of the mandala in their minds. Addressing them, he says:

Some Tibetans who explain the Mantra through their own fabrications, without transmitted instruction, say about the meaning of the meditation on emptiness for accumulating...